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life in the eyes of an empress .

it’s the most wonderful tiiiiiiiime of the year *Andy Williams voice*

To all who actually check this blog if you don’t know already, I reside right outside of Toronto, Canada and this past weekend was the BEST time to be in the city . Why you ask ? CARIBANAAAAAA ( well technically it’s called the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival but who is really calling it that =/ ) We also have VELD (EDM) and OVO Fest (Drake and guests like Outkast and YG, etc.) happening, so yes Toronto is always the place to be around the first weekend of August . With all that brings tourists, more celebrities, and mayhem to the city. Last year I didn’t attend any of the activities happening for a few reasons so this year was highly anticipated and I gotta say, I enjoyed every moment of it !

quick side note: while I have been going through a lot with family and myself I have been reading the Word, listening to sermons, and talking to my mom and my friends and I’ve learned so many different things about myself . One thing I have been doing is appreciating what I have and always looking for the positive in every situation . Life isn’t always going to be sunshine and rainbows but its up to us to find the positive in our situation . That has helped me to appreciate awkward and crazy situations that I’ve encountered and have helped me to handle things in the right way . I’m still a work in progress so obviously I slip up but I personally think I’m getting better .

To kick off my weekend on the Thursday I went to the OVO Bounce basketball tournament which was cool but not as exciting as I remember last year to be . It was great to run into some people I grew up with and I got to peek at a few celebrities but the games I watched on Thursday weren’t that exciting . Yes you’re here to win the tournament but I mean if its a blow out … give the crowd a show ! There were some highlights but I felt as if it was more about how bad you could beat the other team . Maybe if I got to see all the games for the whole week I’d have a different outlook but … yeah nah .

Waaay before the weekend I told myself and my friends that I was only going to the Caribana parade and maybe the Machel Montano fete afterwards but of course my friends don’t take me seriously and one of my boys bought me a ticket to Jab Jab J’ouvert which was on the Friday . This means paint, mud, oil , and powder … Thank God my hair was in braids because washing out all that nonsense to look good for the parade would have annoyed the heck outta me ! Anyways, that was really fun even though we got there extreeeemely late and the event itself was poorly organized . My friends paid $60 for VIP which I would have thought included line bypass, drinks, and food but we waited in the regular line which got rushed several times and they didn’t even check our tickets (so I bet a bunch of people that didn’t pay for the event got in smh) and I never saw the VIP area so we didn’t get any food or drinks ! But the music was great , performances were good, and all of my people got home safe .

Next day I woke up late and I looked at the weather and said forget the parade… but an hour later I’m on the train headed downtown to meet with my bestfriend to head down to the parade . I’m pathetic man aha . Going to the parade with him and his boys was jokes ! I enjoyed it but I definitely love being a part of the parade rather than just busting through the barricades and watching everything from the sidelines (I’m gonna attach pictures in this post from the last time I played mas once I figure out how) . When you play mas you feel like a celebrity for that day , I love it ! People taking your picture, children asking to have pieces of your costume and you get free wataaaah and food from your mas camp’s truck ! But nonetheless I met some cool people, heard good tunes and didn’t lose my bestfriend *pelvic thrust* . One problem I saw though was that they changed the route and placing of the stage for the judging of the masqueraders, which is dumb . So just when we thought the judging was over and everyone was just walking down the road,we realized we were walking right through the stage with all the masqueraders being judged.. so sorry guys xox . To make matters worse, only 3 bands went down the road for judging … what the heck =/. A lot of people complained and I would too if I paid to play mas and things were unorganized like that … thankfully I didn’t and my day was drama-free and fantastic … until my ride home .

When I took the train down to the parade I was told there is only one train that will head back to my area and that came at 7 so I left the parade at 6 because I didn’t want to get carried away with the time and miss my train . So I get to the station, buy my ticket then my phone dies . Like the OG I am I came prepped with my charger in my fanny pack so I found an outlet to plug my phone in to charge while I waited for the train but after about 5 minutes a train pulls up .. So I’m happy and thinking the train just came early and I’ll have tons of time to take a nap and be refreshed for the party I was going to later that evening … hmph . After everyone loads onto the train my intuition was telling me to get off the train but me and my lazy butt was like “nah I think we’re alright lets just take a nap” and thats what I did . Where did I wake up though ? Oakville … That is faaar from where I want to be and all I can do is laugh at this point because I knew I should have gotten off the train . Whatevs . So after quick thinking I made my way to Mississauga and took the transit back home for about 9 30 . Remember I left the parade at 6pm eh .. oh okay . No nap . No foot rub . No dinner (luckily my ride stopped at Mcdonalds, ugh I know terrible but I needed food) . I ran into the shower and got ready just in time for my ride. We had an amazing time . Machel , Kerwin , Ravi B , Farmer Nappy, and Patrice ? Yupp they made my evening . There was so much space to dance , everything seemed to be organized even though you had to wait in line to buy drink tickets and then wait in line at the bar smh (I only had water, don’t kill me) .

LET ME JUST ADD . being the only girl in the group going out to Jab Jab and the parade was the funniest part of my whole weekend ! Watch the savages scope out girls and see how women act towards them and me was hilarious . I just tried my best to stand off to the side and not be annoying \(-.-)/

This post seems pretty long to me but I guess it makes up for my lack of posting nowadays . With school coming up I want to post more now before I get swamped with work smh . Hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as I am !